Friend,

Jeff Bezos, the richest person on the planet, nearly doubled his net worth during the pandemic. Meanwhile, millions of Americans fell into poverty, including Amazon employees who work under grueling conditions.

You’ve probably been infuriated by the billionaire space race, like I have. It’s been a gross spectacle, a monument to wealth inequality—and to tax evasion. Did you know that in 2017 and 2019, both Bezos and Amazon paid an effective federal income tax rate of $0?

It’s time for Jeff Bezos and Amazon to pay their fair share, along with other heads of our country’s richest corporations.

That’s why I co-introduced the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act to raise taxes on corporations that pay their top executives at least 50 times more than they pay of a median worker—which includes Amazon. It would help address injustice by raising billions of dollars to fund critical services for working families.

And throughout the pandemic, I’ve led pushes to fund communities and put money directly in people’s pockets, rather than spending taxpayer money to bail out corporations.

Will you chip in $5 or more today to help me take on corporate greed and billionaire bullies? We need groundbreaking, transformative leadership to change the unjust status quo. Together, we can build a world where people come before profits.

Growing up and becoming an activist in polluted Detroit, I learned how corporate CEOs often treat Black and brown communities like we’re expendable, just for the sake of profits. And I learned how, through campaign contributions and high-priced lobbyists, they dictate our public policy so they can escape accountability and avoid paying their taxes.

Only a few years ago, for example, Detroit filed for bankruptcy. And still, today, instead of investing all of our public funds on public services, billionaires are taking away our money for their for-profit projects.

This includes Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, which a billionaire family built. They could have easily used their own money to build the sports arena from which they profit. But instead they received $300 million in corporate tax breaks.

These corporate tax subsidies built an opulent arena, while robbing millions from the School Aid Fund. In the meantime, nearby schools have had to turn off their water because it was unsafe for students to drink. This is what happens when we invest in billionaires rather than critical resources like schools.

As you know, even before the pandemic, people were already in “survival mode,” living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to make ends meet.

So I’ve focused on meeting my constituents’ immediate needs, as well as introducing bold legislation to lift up working people.

One example is the groundbreaking BOOST Act, which would reverse the Trump-GOP tax scam for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, giving that money back to no- and low-income people in the form of direct cash payments—instantly uplifting 45% of people living in poverty.

I know from experience that when we join together, we are capable of doing transformative things. And in a time of great challenges that intersect with one another—including the pandemic, the climate crisis, systemic racism, and extreme inequities—our communities can no longer survive with mere bandaids and incremental change.

It’s time to pass bold, meaningful legislation that invests directly in our communities and meets the scale of our problems now.

Right now, we have the majority in our federal government, and we need leaders in Congress who won’t back down as we fight for our neighbors and our communities.

Can you chip in $5 or more to invest in my bold leadership and ensure our government serves the people, not billionaires?

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Thank you for helping demand an America where everyone has the ability to thrive and survive.

In solidarity,

Rashida